Behind the Mask
by LoveWritingStories
Summary: Dash Baxter. The Amity Park High School bully. But is that ever all there is to it? In truth, Dash is hiding something, a secret that nobody can know, memories that stalk his mind. Only, when he sees bruises showing up on Danny Fenton that he didn't cause, everything changes, people get hurt, lives get ruined and his secrets might be revealed to the most unlikely people. TW Abuse.
1. Chapter 1: Haunted by Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom**

**Hello guys! Nice to see you! So, as I said, TW for abuse, none of it is really vivid, although there are some parts that go a little too close for comfort into it. **

**YOU NEED TO KNOW: I do not support Dash's actions of violence and bullying shown in the cartoon. I think bullying is stupid, but I do want to express his reasons. ****Also, this starts to include Danny more in later chapters.**

**MORE NEED TO KNOW: Again. TW for child abuse and rated T for language! **

**Special thanks to my best friend, Hollyflash for helping me come up with a story arch for this. And thanks to GGCharms and sunnywinterclouds for beta reading.**

**And one more thing! This is from Dash's point of view, so some of the things said about other people in this chapter are not necessarily true, and that will come to light later in the story. Also, psychologically speaking, this being the reason behind Dash's violence does makes sense, violence pretty much only spawns from violence given this is not always true. **

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Alone. He had spent hours alone, with no company but the memories that still haunted his dreams; the memories of pain, suffering and death, the nightmares that had long since become reality. It felt as if every time he closed his eyes, her image appeared, taunting him, giving him a small shred of hop, hope that life could go back to the way it was. But she took that away, of course, just as she had taken it away when she had left him at the hands of his merciless father. She had abandoned him, and not a day went by when he didn't think about what he must have done wrong, what he did to make her leave him behind.

Dash Baxter, the abandoned and forgotten boy, stared out his bedroom window as the dreaded thoughts of life floated through his mind. The yelling of his father echoed throughout the house. No doubt he was on the phone, talking to one concerned family member or another. Or maybe the bank, considering that his father's drinking problem made it hard to pay the bills. Dash knew that it was only a matter of time before that anger was turned his way, and new bruises would have to be hidden.

The teenager cringed at that thought. Mr. Baxter's rage was no secret among the adults of Amity Park, but nobody did a thing about it. Dash used to wonder why that was, but as he grew older, he realized that it was because nobody really cared about him. Nobody except his best friend Kwan, of course.

A loud sigh escaped Dash's throat. He knew that there would be no way to avoid the beating that he would receive that day, yet Kwan would still feel guilty, just as he did all of the other times. Never mind the fact that it wasn't even remotely his fault.

Kwan was really the only reason that Dash was still alive. He would hold on through life and death for his best friend. Kwan had been there for Dash when nobody else had, when his mother left and when his father turned the full extent of his violence upon his own son. In truth, Kwan was the only one that fully knew what was going on behind closed doors in the Baxter household. Dash's main excuse for the cuts and bruises, football practice, seemed to fool even the most curious of people. Regardless of his ability to cover for everyone else, he could never get around Kwan. The boy always seemed to know when Dash was lying, no matter how good at it he was getting.

Kwan had always tried to understand what Dash was going through, but he never could. The pain his father inflicted could never be held, but his father wasn't even the worst. In the end it was his mother that destroyed Dash everyday. Of all the things that happened to him, of all the good and bad memories, his mother leaving had affected him the most.

He still remembered the day she left, the day his life changed forever. There was yelling. His father was angry, but she was cold. They fought as Dash hid away from them and listened, unable to hide his innocent ears from the clash of voices…

_"I'm leaving! I'm leaving and there's nothing you can do to stop me, you fucking bastard!" she had yelled. "I'm going somewhere where you'll never find me!"_

_"No you aren't, you little bitch!" he had yelled back at her, his angry blazing more fiercely than Dash had ever seen before, or after._

_"Get the fuck out of my way Kevin!" She had so rarely called him by his name, "I will not stand here and fight. I'm leaving and you're not going to stop me!" Her own anger was flaring brightly._

_"Oh yes there is, I can beat you until you can't walk!" he screamed. His anger just kept soaring higher and higher, like a volcano about to erupt, an earthquake about to hit, a tsunami about to strike land._

_"You wouldn't dare," Dash's mother hissed. "My sister knows I'm leaving. If I don't call her in five minutes she's calling the fucking cops!"_

_"Sarah Baxter! You took your wedding vows as a Catholic woman! You will not leave this house. As for the cops, fuck 'em. It takes about five minutes for them to reach this house. I can kill you in three!"_

_"I will do whatever I damn well please you fucking bastard. My religion isn't going to stop me, and neither are you! Now get out of my way before I make you move!"_

_"What about your son? You little shit. You're just going to leave him behind?" her husband countered. "Where is that worthless thing anyways?"_

_"You can have him!" Sarah screamed. "Make him clean, throw him out on the streets, kill him! I don't give a fuck! He's your kid, too, so guess what? He isn't my problem."_

_"Well he isn't my problem either, you fucking shit!" Kevin howled. "You aren't leaving this house!"_

_"Watch me, bastard!" she shouted before taking a step towards him and the door._

_"No, you are not leaving. Take one more step forward and I will fucking strangle you. You understand? Or do I need to speak slower so that your puny brain can comprehend what I'm saying!"_

_"You think that you can stop me? After all of this you think you can STOP me?" Sarah said. Her voice was eerily calm._

_"I own you, you little bitch!" Kevin screeched._

_"No you don't. You're a worthless drunk!" Sarah picked up a half-empty bottle of scotch that sat on the table next to where she stood, and before he even knew what was happening, she smashed it over her husband's head, knocking him out cold. "Bastard," she whispered, before grabbing her suitcase from behind her._

_Hearing a bottle break and then an eerie silence, young Dash came out of his hiding place. "Mom?" he asked, as he saw her picked up her bag._

_"Oh, you," she ground out through clenched teeth._

_"Mom, are you leaving?" Dash asked, trying to hold back his fear and shock._

_"Yes. I am. And guess what? You aren't coming, you useless kid," she informed her seven year old son. "Don't you dare start to fucking cry!" she shouted at him, as tears began to roll down his cheeks. They didn't stop. In fact, he just began to cry harder._

_"Mommy, please don't leave me!" he screamed, and ran to her, clinging onto her legs as he cried. She pushed him away._

_"Dashiel, I am starting a new life, one that you don't get to be part of. One that you don't get to ruin."_

_And just like that, she picked up her bag and walked out the front door. Dash ran after her._

_"Mommy, please don't go! Please don't leave me here!" he called, but she ignored him. Sarah Baxter turned on the car and drove off without so much as a look back. She left her own son behind standing in the dust._

From that day on, Dash always wondered what he did. Did he cry too much? Did he ask for too much? Was he not good enough? The beating he received when his dad woke up was one of the worst he had ever gotten in his life, which was saying something. He had honestly thought that his father was going to kill him. That was the first night Kwan had realized what was happening to his best friend. He had come to see if Dash could come out to play, but nobody had answered, and the door had been open. He had walked into the house, seen the broken glass, the puddles alcohol, the toppled furniture, and Dash. The seven year old little boy was curled up on the floor in tears, blood still dripping from a few cuts that his father had inflicted.

_"Dash?" he had asked, his voice high pitched and filled with worry._

_"Kwan?" he'd whispered, without looking up. "Is he gone?"_

_Kwan cocked his head to the side "Is who gone? The person that hurt you?" He hadn't known the hell that the simple question would release._

_"My dad," was all Dash could choke out._

Just like that, Dash had told his best friend a secret that no one else could ever learn. The secret symbolized the few words between life and death. After all, if Dash's father ever found out he had told anyone about his life, he would be killed faster than he could pick up a phone.

The only thing was, Dash had lied even after that. He had explained to Kwan that it had happened just that one time, and it would never happen again. He kept it up for six years, until he broke one day and came clean about everything. Kwan had never believed him about the bruises again. Although Dash had tried everything to tell his best friend that he had over reacted, it never worked. Kwan felt guilty, that much Dash could see. He just wished that he could keep his pain out of Kwan's life; the boy had enough trouble on his own.

It seemed that everyone in Amity Park had crappy lives. Dash was being beaten by his father. Kwan's parents were divorced, his dad lived in Chicago and never even bothered to speak to his former family – after all, he had a new wife and new children to spend time with. Star, the perfect blonde, the stupid girl, her family was the most religious that Dash had ever met. Star wasn't allowed to even speak to people who cursed or 'sinned' in any way. Hell, at home she wasn't even allowed to speak unless spoken to first. Her family strongly believed in the old values of women. The great and wonderful Paulina also had a shit life; her parents were never home. Her dad worked in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Houston, he was the CEO of some mega corporation. Her mother was a rich trophy wife who spent her days on the sunny beaches of California and Florida, or traveling the globe. They barely even saw their daughter, and to make up for their guilt, they bought her overly expensive gifts.

They all had horrible things going on, but they never would let anybody guess. The thing that bugged Dash was that there was one person in all of Amity Park that had a perfect life, and yet he still complained about it; Danny Fenton. Two wonderful parents who loved him, a sister who watched out for him… his life was perfect. Dash couldn't stand it. Even Manson and Foley's lives weren't as amazing as Fenton's. Manson had parents pushing her to be something she wasn't. Foley's family was having money issues, not that that he'd ever tell anyone that. And then there was Fenton, with his oh-so perfect life.

After a moment, Dash was snapped out of his viscously poisonous thoughts by silence, complete and utter silence. The house had gone into an eerie state of calm, much like the calm before a massive storm that leaves nothing behind in its wake. Suddenly, there was a creak on the stairs. Dash's heart rate skipped a beat. Knowing that there was nothing he could do didn't stop the fear from circling around him. There, another creak, that one closer to him room than the last. Dash's breathe sped up. The anticipation was the worst, and this was the worst part of it.

And then the door swung open. His heart pounded so loudly in his chest that he could have sworn his father could hear it. His nostrils flared with the scent of hard alcohol. The smell made him dizzy, but he still pretended not to notice his father standing in the doorway. Instead, Dash acted as if he were immersed in the notepad and a textbook open on his desk, hoping it would come off like he was studying. Not that it mattered.

"That was your school on the phone," Dash's father informed him. "You've been causing trouble at school?"

Fear clogged his throat. As usual, Dash had no idea what to say. He'd spend hours coming up with ways to explain himself to his father, methods of wriggling out of his fury, but the words always got caught in his breath before they could make it out into the open.

"I don't hear an answer."

Dash took in a breath. "I don't know what you're talking about," Dash informed his father in the politest way possible.

"Don't lie to me, you worthless shit!" his father screamed, temper rising. "I'm tired of your constant bullshit!"

Before Dash could even think, he was thrown to the floor. When a foot hit his side, he could have sworn that he felt something snap.

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**Hope you maybe enjoyed that? Review, follow and favorite, let me know if it is worth continuing, if nobody likes it, than I simply wont continue to post chapters. I know that this is an awkward topic to talk about and read about, but thanks for reading this. Let me know if you spot any spelling and grammar mistakes that I missed, but there shouldn't be any. Ta-ta for now!  
**


	2. Chapter 2: A Lie is Told

**Hello people and welcome back, I know that apparently this chapter was well waited for. I'm sorry it took so long to write, I had a serous case of "Im too lazy to do anything" along with writer's block. Just so you know, I am aware that this chapter is slightly boring, but I swear that things start getting interesting next chapter. In this part, we get a little of Danny's and Kwan's perspectives, and we'll get more of them in coming chapter. I should be faster at updating now, again, Im sorry this took so long.**

**Now, please enjoy**

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Thursday, 7:53 AM

Dash lay awake in his bed, knowing that if he were going to school, he would have to get up and dress quickly to avoid being late. But Dash wouldn't be leaving that house at all that day, if he could help it. Bruises from his father's attack three days before still littered his body, some remaining purple while others had begun to change into a brown-yellow colour. And if that wasn't bad enough, one of these bruises covered his left cheekbone. No way could Dash go to school like that. To make matters even worse, if that was possible, a huge mark was covering the right side of Dash's abdomen, causing pain whenever he so much as breathed, let alone moved. He had spent the past three days almost exclusively in his bedroom, only leaving to use bathroom across the hall or grab food from the kitchen. Even the slightest movement or fiber brushing against his bruise caused his eyes to water. Dash wasn't an idiot, and he knew that it was more than a bruise.

Suddenly, Dash's cell phone vibrated, signifying that a text had come through. Dash sighed; he knew who it was from and what the message would contain. His suspicions were confirmed when he opened his inbox: the text message was from Kwan. Dash had been steadily ignoring his best friend as of late.

**Kwan: ****u coming to school today?**

Dash was considering the pros and cons of replying to the message when his phone buzzed in his hands again.

**Kwan: ****stop ignoring me**

Dash sighed: he knew that if he didn't reply, Kwan would be likely to call either him or 911. Careful not to move too much, he took a moment to come up with a plausible lie before replying.

**Dash: ****sorry dude cant come today, been sick 4 a while. im just gonna spend the day sleeping but ill be back monday im sure so no biggie**

He knew that Kwan wouldn't believe him, but there wasn't really anything that he could do about it: after all, Kwan had no proof that Dash was anything but sick. Again, Dash's phone vibrated.

**Kwan: ****enough with the lies man**

Dash sighed and wished that he could tell him everything, but instead typed out his next message firmly.

**Dash: ****not lying, sick. lots of throwing up i promise. sorry i cant make it but im sure u can survive just 1 day w/o me**

He was slightly satisfied with his lie. It sounded perfectly believable, and even kind of casual. He was certain that the next text would be his friend reluctantly accepting his absence.

It wasn't.

**Kwan: ****ok PLS tell me u didn't forget**

Dash didn't reply.

**Kwan: ****dash i get u need ur space but 3 words dude! football. championship. TONIGHT!**

Dash cursed. It had completely slipped his mind that the football championship was that night, and the team had a mandatory practice right after school. Dash was the star player, and he knew that if he didn't go and the team lost, it would be his fault.

**Dash: ****crap. ok fine ill be there but late. whats 1st period again? sorry fuzzy head**

Kwan's reply came in just seconds.

**Kwan: ****english**

That was the end of the conversation. If he could get away with it, Dash would have just done what he had been doing all week – call the school pretending to be his father and excuse his own absence – and then just show up at practice after school. Too bad for him, school rules dictated that if anybody is absent the day of an event, excused or not, they are not allowed to participate in the event. Meaning, if somebody's too sick to go to school, they're too sick to play football. This sadly meant that Dash would have to suck it up and go to school, no matter how much it pained him to do so.

Slowly, Dash sat up. He had to bite his lip in order to keep a cry of pain from escaping. He didn't know how he was going to play with so much agony exploding from his side. He was considering throwing in the towel and going back to bed when an idea struck him. Dash's father had been in a car accident a few years earlier and still suffered the occasional ache or two from it. There were pain killers in his bathroom. Dash stood and limped his way towards his dad's bedroom.

The room was painted a light brown. Clothing and empty bottles were scattered carelessly across the floor. The smell of liquor and dirty laundry permeated the stale air. Dash did his best not to step on anything – it was like an obstacle course, only with higher stakes. Stepping on a piece of glass could cut open his foot and give him an infection, and the last thing Dash needed right now was another injury. When he finally reached his father's bathroom, after a fair amount of maneuvering through various sharp objects, he was disappointed to find that it, too, was littered with dangerous trash.

Temporarily ignoring his aching side, Dash moved straight for the medicine cabinet and opened it. Countless bottles of pills fell out and into the sink. Most of them were prescriptions that had never been used: according to Dash's father, "alcohol is the best pain killer there is."

Dash was searching for a specific bottle, one that he knew was strong enough to help him out because he'd used it before, but it wasn't there. Dash sighed heavily: he'd have to settle for something else. At last, Dash picked up a plain bottle of Aleve, which was powerful enough to numb the pain but nowhere near able to take it away. He then piled the bottles back into the cabinet and closed the door. Before he left the room, though, he managed to accidentally catch his reflection in the mirror.

Dash wasn't one to care much about his appearance, but he looked… well, he looked awful. He had large purple bags underneath his bloodshot eyes. His face was pale from the constant pain he felt from even breathing. The bruise on his face had turned to a nasty shade of purplish gray. With a sigh, Dash took the pain killers without water, as he had been doing since he was just a little kid. Then he returned to his room to get dressed.

Dash walked through the doors of Casper High exactly forty minutes later, at 8:50 on the dot. 'Only twenty minutes late, pretty good,' Dash thought to himself, despite the fact that he only lived ten minutes away. After all, it had been a long morning. He'd missed the bus, obviously, and the walk over to school had been excruciating.

Quickly, Dash grabbed a late slip from the front office and moved as fast as he could to English.

* * *

Lancer didn't look at all thrilled when Dash walked into English twenty minutes late with a bruise on his face. When asked what happened, Dash merrily shrugged and said "Bar fight," before sitting down next to Kwan. A few people giggled at his excuse, knowing there was no way he was old enough to get into a bar, but nobody pressed it. He was an A-lister, after all.

Danny sat across the room next to Sam and Tucker. Dash didn't so much as glance at the trio as he sat down.

"How do you think he really got that?" Tucker wondered aloud.

"Probably got punched by a six year old girl," Sam replied. Danny stayed quiet, as he normally did during school.

"Sounds about right," Tucker replied. "The guy thinks he's all that just because he's the star football player. I wish he'd get injured out on that field so he can't play anymore." Tucker's tone was spiteful.

"Shut up, Tucker,

* * *

" Danny finally said. Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but Danny cut him off. "I know you were just joking, but what if Desiree was flying around? We'd all be doomed."

Sam made a sound that could have been laughing. "Slow down, Danny, you almost sound like you care about him. Dash deserves anything bad that comes his way."

"Not denying that," Danny agreed, "but no saying the word 'wish' in sentences that could end with somebody getting hurt. I'm not having _that_ on my hands." Sam and Tucker both nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Fenton," a voice called from the front of the room: of course, it was Lancer. "I'm sorry to interrupt your little talk show going on back there, but would you please do us the honor of reading the next sentence?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said before turning to Sam. "Where are we?"

"I can tell you young Romeo," she recited.

"Now Mr. Fenton" Lancer said impatiently.

Danny nodded to Sam and read the next line of Romeo and Juliet "I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older…"

* * *

Kwan wasn't paying attention to the reading, nor to Danny Fenton's slight embarrassment. His eyes were focused on Dash; more specifically, on the ugly bruise that rested on his check.

"It's fine, Kwan," Dash grumbled, uncomfortable under his friend's stare.

"A bar fight? Really, Dash? Even you can do better than that," Kwan said, trying to mask the worry in his tone with a light, teasing one. In reality, Kwan had been expecting Dash to show up with bruises: why else would he be absent from school that week? Yeah, Dash often came to school with bruises, and yeah, he often had funny little excuses for them, but very rarely were his injuries as bad as the bruise on his face was. Kwan wasn't stupid; he knew that the bruise covering his best friend's face wasn't the only one that had been inflicted. He just hoped that there wasn't too much damage done under his clothes.

Dash had been through enough and Kwan would do anything to protect him. Regardless, there were times when he didn't know how to help his closest and longest friend. There were times where Kwan sat staring out his bedroom window, or at a book in class; times where he wondered if keeping Dash's secret really was keeping him safe. By keeping it, Dash was being hurt, but by telling, Dash could be hurt more. It was a conflicting feeling. Looking at the bruise on Dash's face didn't really help.

'Five minutes' Kwan reminded himself. 'It takes five minutes for the cops to show up at Dash's house. It would only take three for his dad to kill him.' That was the only thought that kept Kwan from standing up right there and telling Lancer what was going on. 'Five minutes, it only takes three. Five minutes, it only takes three.' Kwan kept repeating those words over and over until he felt as if he would burst. At last he gave up and put up his hand.

"Yes Kwan?" Lancer asked him "Would you like to read the next line?"

"No, thanks," Kwan informed his teacher, "Can I go to the bathroom?" Lancer nodded and Kwan practically ran from the room.

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**Hope you liked it, as per usually, let me know what you think in the reviews, or what you think should happen, I may, or may not, include your input in the story line. Let me know if you spot any spelling and/or grammar mistakes and I'll make sure I get them fixed ASAP, although there shouldn't be very many. As I do in every chapter, special thanks to my amazing beta reader sunnywinterclouds and also a big thank you to hollyflash (known as currently-lurking on tumblr) for helping me come up with this plot. Have a nice day! (Or other appropriate time if it is not day for you) **


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